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"But Joystiq," you ask, "isn't there already a way to get the absolutely delightful ilomilo for XBLA right now?" Yes, there is -- or you could wait until it's "officially" released on the Xbox Marketplace come January 5 as part of the "Games for the Holidays" promotion. But really, who would do such a silly thing? (Either way, it'll set you back 800 Microsoft Points, or $10.)

Of course, since there's no way to secretly procure Ninja Bee's latest, A World of Keflings, or the puzzle/racer mash-up that is Raskulls from Halfbrick Studios, you will have to wait until their official launches on December 22 and 29, respectively, at 800 points ($10) each.

Permalink | Email this | Comments]]>a-world-of-keflingsgames-for-the-holidayshalfbrick-studiosilomilomicrosoftMicrosoft-Game-StudiosNinja-Beeraskullsrelease-dateSouthEndSouthEnd-InteractivexblaxboxThu, 02 Dec 2010 12:30:00 ESThttp://www.joystiq.com/2010/01/29/ninjabees-next-game-a-world-of-keflings/http://www.joystiq.com/2010/01/29/ninjabees-next-game-a-world-of-keflings/http://www.joystiq.com/2010/01/29/ninjabees-next-game-a-world-of-keflings/#comments
NinjaBee is working on a Kingdom for Keflings sequel, which takes the logical next step and is quite expectedly titled A World of Keflings. IGN has the first details of the follow-up that has "multiple kingdoms to explore, each with its own climate, resources, and culture."
A World of Kelings sound like it's the same gameplay you remember from the original ... just bigger and stuffed with more Keflings. NinjaBee President Steve Taylor says the game has "a new story focus, with new exotic lands, characters, quests, buildings, customization options, and a lot more." The game will release sometime this year and will feature local multiplayer -- a feature awkwardly missing in the original.

Read | Permalink | Email this | Comments]]>avatarkeflingskingdom-for-keflingsMicrosoftninja-beeninjabeeworld-of-keflingsxblaXbox-360Fri, 29 Jan 2010 17:40:00 ESThttp://www.joystiq.com/2009/07/27/rumor-ninjabee-disc-compilation-releasing-this-fall/http://www.joystiq.com/2009/07/27/rumor-ninjabee-disc-compilation-releasing-this-fall/http://www.joystiq.com/2009/07/27/rumor-ninjabee-disc-compilation-releasing-this-fall/#comments
It appears that a disc compilation of NinjaBee's Xbox 360 DLC games is in the works for this fall. The NinjaBee Critic's Choice Collection announcement comes courtesy of a GameFly post which, if history serves us properly, are typically not speculative. The only thing that may be buzzing in our ear as bee-ing iffy is the release date of October 15.

We've contacted NinjaBee for confirmation, but were told that it couldn't provide us any information at this time. Although we're unaware of what games would be on the disc, NinjaBee's titles include: Outpost Kaloki, A Kingdom for Keflings, Cloning Clyde, Band of Bugs and many more. We're leaving the hive door open if the company wants to give us the buzz.

Update: Officially, the company stated it does not comment on rumor and speculation; we were also told to "watch carefully for an upcoming announcement." But, when explaining the company's philosophy, a representative said, "If we were to do something like that, we would want to pack as much as we can onto a disc ... we'd want to offer a good value there."

Read | Permalink | Email this | Comments]]>a-kingdom-for-keflingsband-of-bugscloning-clydegameflyMicrosoftMicrosoft-Game-StudiosNinja-Beeninjabeeoutpost-kalokiPlatformerWahoo-StudiosXBLAXbox-360Mon, 27 Jul 2009 20:25:00 ESThttp://www.joystiq.com/2008/11/19/x3f-tv-xbla-in-brief-a-kingdom-for-keflings/http://www.joystiq.com/2008/11/19/x3f-tv-xbla-in-brief-a-kingdom-for-keflings/http://www.joystiq.com/2008/11/19/x3f-tv-xbla-in-brief-a-kingdom-for-keflings/#commentsAfter a week with no XBLA games, we were ready to sink our teeth into something new. This week, we not only get A Kingdom for Keflings, but it also happens to be the first Xbox 360 game that lets players use their Avatar as a playable character. We take the game and our Avatar for a spin in the latest episode of XBLA in Brief. Check it out in the video above.

Newly available for purchase off the Xbox Live Marketplace is A Kingdom for Keflings, a brand new Xbox Live Arcade game from the folks over at Ninja Bee.

At 800 Microsoft points, A Kingdom of Keflings is a city building sim where you play a giant who takes mini Keflings and demands firmly suggests what they should do to improve the cityscape. Best part, A Kingdom for Keflings is the first game to incorporate your new NXE Avatar. Bossing lil' Keflings around just couldn't be any more enjoyable.

Relax, it's not more Ubisoftshovelware. Boingz is a WiiWare puzzler/platformer from Ninja Bee and Real Networks, and one we have (shamefully) yet to discuss here. So let's correct that now!

Boingz are armless creatures lost on an alien world, and it's your job to help them navigate 30 levels and locate magical gates that will take our stretchable friends home. As well as walking from side to side, the colorful Boingz can be maneuvered by being pulled, stretched and flicked through levels, as well as being nailed down to rocks and walls to create bridges for fellow Boingz to cross.

It's essentially Lemmings then, though a more contemporary comparison would be Toki Tori, a title we were big fans of. If Boingz can show up our lack of puzzle-solving smarts as much as that game did, we could have a winner here. Expect it to land on the third or fourth Monday of October.

The unlikely pairing of Real Networks (you know, the RealPlayer folks) and Ninja Bee (you, uh, might know - they've done Outpost Kaloki X, Band of Bugs, and the upcoming A Kingdom for Keflings for XBLA), Boingz is a spring-physics-based puzzle-platformer for WiiWare reminiscent of a slower-paced Lemmings.

In this case, the Boingz - stretchy, sleepy creatures - need to be directly maneuvered to various exits in the level, rather than just mindlessly marching forward. In addition to using the Wiimote to "pinch" their heads and snap them skyward at various angles, we were able to pin them to the environment in order to create bridges, or to rocks so that we might pick up sparkly underwater treasure.

Bite-sized games developer Ninja Bee and Real Networks have announced Boingz! The WiiWare title was just presented at Nintendo's press conference, so all we've got at the moment is initial impressions, which give us a smallerLittleBigPlanet meets LocoRoco feel.

The 2D-3D puzzle platformer has players controlling elastic creatures -- we believe are called The Boingz, which have similar powers to Gloop and Gleep from The Herculoids -- that can be grabbed, stretched and flicked across the 30 levels in the game. We've contacted Ninja Bee's PR team for more details and images. Update: Boingz has been submitted to Nintendo for approval and will be out this month. Either Oct. 20 or 27.

Permalink | Email this | Comments]]>boingzninja-beereal-networksWiiwii-warewiiwareFri, 03 Oct 2008 13:00:00 ESThttp://www.joystiq.com/2008/08/04/ninjabee-unveils-xbla-title-a-kingdom-for-keflings/http://www.joystiq.com/2008/08/04/ninjabee-unveils-xbla-title-a-kingdom-for-keflings/http://www.joystiq.com/2008/08/04/ninjabee-unveils-xbla-title-a-kingdom-for-keflings/#commentsAfter receiving a not so informative announcement video, then receiving a much more informative gameplay video, NinjaBee has finally lifted the announcement curtains on their latest XBLA project,A Kingdom for Keflings. Including some screenshot love too!

A Kingdom for Keflings is a city building simulator where you'll play a giant who builds, designs and constructs a city all in an effort to attract the much tinier Kefling population to live in. And with all kinds of customization options, different seasons to experience and four player Xbox Live co-op gameplay, A Kingdom for Keflings sounds like another NinjaBee hit ninja-hit. Press release after the break and a few screenshots below.

It appears NinjaBee is ready to talk a little about its upcoming city builder, A Kingdom for Keflings. Teasing the title in a viral video last month, the company finally gave some details to IGN, details which make the game look and sound like a cross bee-tween SimCity and Gulliver's Travels.

It appears the player takes on the roll of a Gulliver-esque character and must build a kingdom for the Keflings, with the final goal being to create a castle. The game features 50 buildings, a tech tree and optional quests. Isn't it interesting that all the different smaller-scale city builder games, like Hinterland and My Life as a King, are releasing this year? Check out video for A Kingdom for Keflings after the break.

Read | Permalink | Email this | Comments]]>a-kingdom-for-keflingskeflingskingdom-for-keflingsninja-beexblaXbox-360Thu, 24 Jul 2008 01:00:00 ESThttp://www.joystiq.com/2008/07/23/simcity-lite-for-xbla-a-kingdom-for-keflings/http://www.joystiq.com/2008/07/23/simcity-lite-for-xbla-a-kingdom-for-keflings/http://www.joystiq.com/2008/07/23/simcity-lite-for-xbla-a-kingdom-for-keflings/#commentsSo who's read Gulliver's Travels? Raise your hands, don't be shy. Hmmm, more than we would've thought. Those familiar with the tale should remember the island of Lilliput (and its rival) which was the home of, well, tiny people. A Kingdom for Keflings is rather similar in concept: you're a giant among insects (so to speak). From there the game concept adds in some dashes of SimCity and Black & White, as the goal is simply to build a city and castle as well as attract more Keflings.

While coming to us from the same devs who did Band of Bugs, A Kingdom for Keflings looks like it's doing things that we've all seen before. Hopefully Ninja Bee will find the sweet spot of city-building, avatar control, and simply watching the simulation play itself out, so that the game doesn't simply tread old ground.

Read | Permalink | Email this | Comments]]>a-kingdom-for-keflingsninja-beexblaWed, 23 Jul 2008 01:30:00 ESThttp://www.joystiq.com/2008/06/04/ninja-bee-finds-a-kingdom-for-keflings/http://www.joystiq.com/2008/06/04/ninja-bee-finds-a-kingdom-for-keflings/http://www.joystiq.com/2008/06/04/ninja-bee-finds-a-kingdom-for-keflings/#commentsTaking a different approach to the traditional video game press release, the crew over at Ninja Bee have put together their creative minds announcing a new XBLA game A Kingdom for Keflings and the fact that they've actually hired twenty of these mysterious Kefling creatures to help around the studio. You can watch some of the Keflings' super helpful soda handiwork in the Ninja Bee produced video above. Interesting, no?

Details are extremely light, but all you really need to know is that A Kingdom for Keflings is some sort of game that'll release this Fall, will feature "light-hearted gameplay with graphics and original music to match" and will somehow incorporate a bunch of three foot tall Keflings. Maybe it'll be an updated Lemmings-style game. Or maybe an elf simulator.

Read | Permalink | Email this | Comments]]>a-kingdom-for-keflingskingdom-for-keflingsninja-beewahoo-studiosxblaxbox-live-arcadeWed, 04 Jun 2008 13:00:00 ESThttp://www.joystiq.com/2007/08/09/new-dlc-for-bugs-soltrio-and-carcassonne/http://www.joystiq.com/2007/08/09/new-dlc-for-bugs-soltrio-and-carcassonne/http://www.joystiq.com/2007/08/09/new-dlc-for-bugs-soltrio-and-carcassonne/#commentsBrand spanking new downloadable content for three, count 'em three of your favorite XBLA games was released yesterday in hopes of making your gaming experience all the more enjoyable. First off, Band of Bugs released the "Red Kingdom" expansion for 250 Microsoft points and includes a new red rock tile set, ten new campaign levels and two new units. The second Arcade game to get some DLC love is Soltrio Solitaire which released a 150 Microsoft point "Game Pack 5" featuring ten new gametypes. Finally, the "Rivers II Expansion Pack" was released for Carcassonne, costing 300 Microsoft points and includes twelve new river tiles. All new XBLA downloadable content is currently available off the XBLM and is ready to be purchased or simply gawked at.

Read | Permalink | Email this | Comments]]>Band-of-BugsbandofbugscarcassonneMicrosoft-Game-StudiosNinja-BeesoltriosolitairexblaxblmThu, 09 Aug 2007 12:00:00 ESThttp://www.joystiq.com/2007/06/26/x3f-hands-on-band-of-bugs/http://www.joystiq.com/2007/06/26/x3f-hands-on-band-of-bugs/http://www.joystiq.com/2007/06/26/x3f-hands-on-band-of-bugs/#commentsXbox Live Arcade is finally starting to pick up steam and, as a result, more game genres are being represented. We've got fighters, beat 'em ups, puzzle games, arcade classics, board games, and many more. There hasn't been much in the way of turn-based strategy though. That is, there wasn't until Band of Bugs. Coming to us from NinjaBee, the same folks who brought us Cloning Clyde and Outpost Kaloki X, Band of Bugs takes the same lighthearted, humorous approach to turn-based strategy. Read on to find out how Band of Bugs fares.

Fresh from 2007's Independant Gaming Festival, and hot on the heels of the open call for 2008, NinjaBee's indie strategy title, Band of Bugs, is crawling onto your Xbox Live Arcade plate this Wednesday, joining the enterprising dev's other XBLA titles, Outpost Kaloki and Cloning Clyde. For the going rate of 800 MS Points ($10) you'll get a story-based campaign, a four-person multiplayer mode with Xbox Live support, a built-in level editor (you can share levels with friends, pretty cool!), and another reason to drag your Xbox Live Vision cam out of the junk drawer (it's supported in multiplayer modes).

Permalink | Email this | Comments]]>Band-of-BugsBandofBugsMicrosoftMicrosoft-Game-StudiosNinja-BeeNinjaBeeXBLAXBLAWednesdayXbox-360Mon, 18 Jun 2007 14:25:00 ESThttp://www.joystiq.com/2007/06/18/band-of-bugs-swatting-arcade-this-week/http://www.joystiq.com/2007/06/18/band-of-bugs-swatting-arcade-this-week/http://www.joystiq.com/2007/06/18/band-of-bugs-swatting-arcade-this-week/#commentsBand of Bugs, who's Achievements were recently revealed, is splatting onto Xbox Live Arcade this week. For an expected 800 Microsoft points, The game has a single player campaign mode, as well as stand-alone missions for some quick action. The online seems to be fun, and even has a "Mystery Leaderboard" for which the details of scoring points on are hidden, so that'll be intriguing. So, now that we know it's coming, will we see you online Wednesday?

Read | Permalink | Email this | Comments]]>Band of BugsBand-of-BugsBandOfBugsMicrosoft-Game-StudiosNinja BeeNinja-BeeNinjaBeeNinjaBee GamesNinjabeeGamesMon, 18 Jun 2007 13:15:00 ESThttp://www.joystiq.com/2007/06/18/band-of-bugs-squashes-out-its-achievements/http://www.joystiq.com/2007/06/18/band-of-bugs-squashes-out-its-achievements/http://www.joystiq.com/2007/06/18/band-of-bugs-squashes-out-its-achievements/#comments
NinjaBee Games was kind enough to give out an exclusive peek at the Achievements for their upcoming Xbox Live Arcade title, Band of Bugs. Unfortunately, there is no award for tinkering around with the map editor that we showed you video of last week, but all in all it looks pretty evenly spread out. Also, the release of Achievement information only shows how much closer we are to a game's release, especially XBLA titles. Do you expect Band of Bugs to be another hit from NinjaBee?

Read | Permalink | Email this | Comments]]>ArcadeBand of BugsBand-of-BugsBandOfBugsLive ArcadeLiveArcadeMicrosoft-Game-StudiosNinja BeeNinja-BeeNinjaBeeNinjabee GamesNinjabeeGamesX B L AXBLAXbox Live ArcadeXboxLiveArcadeMon, 18 Jun 2007 09:45:00 ESThttp://www.joystiq.com/2007/06/13/video-band-of-bugs-map-editor/http://www.joystiq.com/2007/06/13/video-band-of-bugs-map-editor/http://www.joystiq.com/2007/06/13/video-band-of-bugs-map-editor/#comments
Ninjabeegames uploaded a video to their YouTube account of the upcoming Xbox Live Arcade title, Band of Bugs. The video showcases the game's map editor, as well as some gameplay near the end. We think this is the first map editor to be included in an Xbox Live Arcade game. Overall it looks to be pretty solid, and will allow for some unique experiences when playing the game online. Do you think a map editor is a good idea, or should creativity be left to the developers?

Permalink | Email this | Comments]]>ArcadeBand of BugsBand-of-BugsBandOfBugsLive ArcadeLiveArcadeMicrosoft-Game-StudiosNinja Bee gamesNinja-BeeNinjaBeeGamesX B L AXBLAXbox Live ArcadeXboxLiveArcadeWed, 13 Jun 2007 10:15:00 ESThttp://www.joystiq.com/2007/03/07/gdc-07-band-of-bugs-hands-on/http://www.joystiq.com/2007/03/07/gdc-07-band-of-bugs-hands-on/http://www.joystiq.com/2007/03/07/gdc-07-band-of-bugs-hands-on/#comments
Sitting right next to Castle Crashers was a game not nearly as publicized, NinjaBee'sBand of Bugs. We managed to wrangle a Band of Bugs interview a while back, and we were pleased to see the game at GDC (Band of Bugs is part of the Independent Games Festival) and speak with Steve Taylor, president of Wahoo Studios (NinjaBee's parent company). We spent a lot of time looking at Band of Bugs. We got a chance to learn about the level editor and even got a little time to play the game itself. Read on for first hand impressions of this unique Xbox Live Arcade title.

Permalink | Email this | Comments]]>arcadeband of bugsBand-of-BugsBandOfBugsGDC-2007gdc07live arcadeLiveArcadeMicrosoft-Game-StudiosNinja-Beeninjabeewahoo studiosWahooStudiosxblaxbox live arcadeXboxLiveArcadeWed, 07 Mar 2007 19:45:00 ESThttp://www.joystiq.com/2007/02/09/x360f-interview-ninjabees-band-of-bugs/http://www.joystiq.com/2007/02/09/x360f-interview-ninjabees-band-of-bugs/http://www.joystiq.com/2007/02/09/x360f-interview-ninjabees-band-of-bugs/#comments
When Band of Bugs was first announced for Xbox Live Arcade last week, we were intrigued. Within minutes, nay, seconds, we were emailing our buddies at NinjaBee to learn everything we could. We managed to snag an interview with Band of Bugs' lead designer, Jeremy Throckmorton. Unfortunately, there are still a few things that we weren't able to pin down (release date, price, etc.) but we did manage to get some tasty info all the same. You may read the interview -- painstakingly reproduced -- after the break.

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When Microsoft announced the latest lineup of Xbox Live Arcade games, one game stood out among the rest. Sure, we're as excited about Wormsand Castlevania as the next trusted news source, but Band of Bugs marks an interesting departure from typical Arcade fare. As a tactical RPG of sorts, Band of Bugs is unlike anything else on Xbox Live Arcade (though it should be noted that Worms is also tactical in nature). Gamasutra sat down with the boys at NinjaBee to learn about the genesis of Band of Bugs, which is now a finalist at the Independent Games Festival. NinjaBee reveals that they wanted to bring something different to the arcade, and that they wanted to create tactical game that appealed to the hardcore and casual alike. Another unique feature of Band of Bugs, it has a level editor. In fact, NinjaBee intimates that the level editor that ships with the game was used to create every level in the game. NinjaBee also takes time to discuss the importance of independent game development in the industry. It's a good read and worth checking out.

We have some special Band of Bugs coverage coming soon, so stay tuned.